Pipe Bombs to Democratic Leaders

Over the past week pipe bombs have been sent to prominent Democratic leaders and supporters, causing a frenzy.

The pipe bombs were first sent out on October 22nd and the first person to receive one was George Soros. In the same week Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Cory Booker were also sent bombs all addressed from the same person: Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

CNN has also been in the midst of the bombings, one happening on Wednesday and the other early Friday morning.

Authorities were able to intercept the packages before harm could be done to those they were addressed to — all prominent Democrats.

James Clapper, former CNN director of National Intelligence, says that he believes this is a form of domestic terrorism. “This definitely domestic terrorism, no question,” said Clapper.

The suspect, 56 year old Cesar Sayoc, was arrested in Florida and has an Aventura, Florida address. When found, his van had stickers on it in support of President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.

In total 13 bombs were intercepted throughout the week and a 14th was found after Sayoc’s arrest. Although Sayoc was arrested in Florida he will be charged in New York as 5 of his pipe bombs ended up in the jurisdiction.

Sayoc was kicked out by his parents and had been living out of his Dodge van. Investigators suspect that this is where he made the bombs.

Yet, this is not Sayoc’s first encounter with the law. He has been arrested, mainly in Florida, several times for grand theft, battery, fraud, drug possession and probation violations.

Sayoc is facing five federal counts and may be charged with more in the weeks to come as the SDNY gathers more evidence to present to the grand jury.

There is a strong case against Sayoc as he had pictures of the targeted victims and CNN and his social media shows the same misspellings which appeared on the packages of the bombs.

According to CNN, Sayoc also reportedly told investigators that the bombs were not going to go off or hurt any of the victims, linking him even more to the bombings.

At the moment, Sayoc does not have a viable defense and may raise a defense against his mental health. His past attorney says that Sayoc has shown “a lack of comprehension of reality” for years now.

If Sayoc is able to succeed on his defense, he will still be taken under federal custody until he is able to prove himself through expert testimony.